EFF launches privacy badger to prevent online snooping

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has launched the beta version of its plug-in for Firefox and Chrome called Privacy Badger, which is said to prevent online tracking of users’ activities.

It lets users detect and block trackers and widgets that collect user information without permission.

EFF previously launched the alpha version of the plug-in, and it managed to get more than 150,000 users.

With the new Privacy Badger, the rights group has added an additional feature that limits the tracking functionality of social media widgets such as Facebook’s "Like" and promotional tweets.

EFF Technology projects director, Peter Eckersley, said: "Widgets that say ‘Like this page on Facebook’ or ‘Tweet this’ often allow those companies to see what web pages you are visiting, even if you never click the widget’s button.

"But now Privacy Badger’s beta version has gotten smarter: it can block the tracking while still giving you the option to see and click on those buttons if you so choose."

The Privacy Badger has been created to prevent intrusive practices of online advertising industry. If the plug-in finds a tracker following a user, then it will either screen out the tracking cookie or block all content from that tracker.

If the user wishes to block the tracker then it can be done by sliding a red blocking indicator to block tracker’s cookie (yellow) or by allowing both the tracker and its cookie (green).